An Atlantic and Cape May County congressman renewed his call to the governor to take action against skyrocketing utility bills.
"People in South Jersey are opening their bills and seeing something that just does not make sense," Congressman Jeff Van Drew said Monday. "In many cases, the delivery fees are higher than the cost of electricity itself. That is not normal, and it is not acceptable."
Some families are paying delivery fees that are double or even triple their energy usage, he said.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said lowering those costs would be a priority of her administration during her campaign.
At her inauguration she said she was keeping that promise by signing an order for the Board of Public Utilities to expand bill credits that ratepayers saw last summer and pause proceedings that could approve new rate increases.
“I promised the people of New Jersey bold action to lower utility costs and, today, I’m delivering," she said. "Trenton will no longer accept the status quo and kick the can down the road while New Jersey families pay higher bills — not on my watch.”
But Van Drew said real action is still needed.
"The governor and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities have the authority to fix this, and they need to act now," he said. "I am once again calling on them to repeal these excessive delivery fees. The root of this problem lies at the state level.
"My hands are virtually tied here, but I am trying desperately at the federal level to help where I can," he continued. "I have recently introduced a package of bills aimed at stopping unnecessary charges and protecting families from being forced to pay for costly energy programs. But the reality is that this is not a priority for every state because many states do not have this problem. At the end of the day, this problem was created by the past governor, and it has to be fixed by this governor."
The state made bad decisions for years, Van Drew said.
"They shut down reliable energy sources like nuclear, gas and coal plants, including Beesley's Point coal plant, which was supposed to be converted to natural gas but was instead shut down," he said. "They took dependable power off the grid and never replaced it. Instead, they poured billions into offshore wind projects that were never going to deliver affordable, reliable energy. Now we are forced to import energy from other states at a much higher cost, and that failure is being dumped directly onto the backs of our residents through these outrageous delivery fees."
H.R. 1148, the Stop Misappropriating Ratepayer Tariffs for Excessive Resources (SMARTER) Act- requires states to consider prohibiting utilities from passing the cost of expensive smart grid projects onto ratepayers through Societal Benefit delivery charges.
H.R. 5896, the Guarding Ratepayers from Imposed EV Charging Directives (GRID) Act- repeals federal standards tied to electric vehicle charging programs that are currently funded through Societal Benefits delivery charges.
H.R. 7991, the Stop Taxing Our Power (RGGI) Act- would prohibit states from imposing charges for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Energy Efficiency Programs that ultimately raise costs on consumers.
